Doping suspect in spotlight

AN AUSTRALIAN cycling official who allegedly helped Martin Vinnicombe inject, yet still holds a position of authority in the sport, is a fresh target of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority.

As former Olympic track silver medallist Vinnicombe contemplates whether to help authorities by identifying the man he says helped him to inject before a major international race, ASADA's chief executive, Aurora Andruska, told Fairfax Media ''a number'' of former and present cyclists had agreed to assist the investigation into doping in the sport.

Injected ... Martin Vinnicombe.

Photo: Fairfax Archive

Andruska also intensified pressure on those who would rather guard their secrets, warning: ''You'd want to put your story in before someone else is putting it in for you.''

ASADA refused to confirm its approach to Vinnicombe, but Fairfax Media was told on Thursday the 1988 Olympic medallist, who tested positive to steroids later in his career, had been contacted by the organisation.

It is understood two influential Australian cycling officials have also attempted to speak to Vinnicombe since he made claims on ABC TV's 7.30 last week. Fairfax Media has been told who Vinnicombe named in the interview, but cannot identify the official for legal reasons.

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In the television interview, Vinnicombe went as far as naming the man on camera, but the ABC muted it on legal advice.

''There's still people existing in cycling in the moment … that at one point in their careers were exposed to doping and knew about doping methods,'' Vinnicombe said in the interview. ''… [muted name] was a person that I trusted, and thought that he would assist me, and he did so.''

Cycling Australia, under review by a former Supreme Court judge in the fallout of the latest international doping scandal, urged Vinnicombe to co-operate with ASADA.

Samantha Lane joined The Age in 2005 and has specialised in the coverage of Australian Rules football, cycling, Olympic sports and drugs in sport. A Quill award winner and part of the Fairfax team that won a Walkley award in 2014 for its coverage of the AFL’s doping scandal, Sam has rich multimedia experience. She is part of the Seven network’s Saturday night AFL television coverage and was previously a panellist on network Ten's Before the Game. Sam was The Age’s Olympics reporter for the 2012 London Olympics, and covered the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games for Fairfax. Her work has won awards from the Australian Sports Commission, the Victorian Institute of Sport, the AFL Players Association and the AFL Coaches Association.